Who is Saint Philip? Philip was one of the twelve Apostles. He was from the same area as Peter and Andrew. He was “somewhat shy, naïve at times, and a sober-minded man.” [1] He was mentioned three times in Scripture; At the feeding of the multitude; when the heathens came to Philip and he, with Andrew, presented them to Jesus; and finally in today’s Gospel reading where he is heard requesting Jesus to show them the Father.

Why did he make this request? Philip was asking Jesus for a visible sign from God the Father. He wanted even more signs because he does not understand that Jesus Christ is united fully with God the Father. At the Transfiguration, Jesus showed himself as God to Peter, James, and John. Yet again though, the apostles wanted great signs. The Gospel says, “Believe me that I in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.” [2] Even though the apostles had been with Jesus for three years and saw sign after sign, they still needed more. This conversation between Jesus and Saint Philip takes place at the Last Supper, before Jesus gives His greatest sign, His final work. On the Cross, Jesus says, “It is finished.” If we look just at Jesus in the context of His public ministry and separate from His passion, death and resurrection, we do not see the whole Christ and might miss His divinity. We have to see the whole picture.

Why did Jesus respond with a question back to Philip? His question was a rhetorical one, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me?” Jesus rebukes Philip for not seeing the Father in Him. Jesus performed supernatural miracles: Walking on water (Matthew 14:22), Calming the wind and storm (Matthew 8:23-26), Feeding of the 5,000 men (Matthew 14:13-21), Forgiving sins (Matthew 9:2), Curing the blind (Matthew 9:27-30), and raising Lazarus from the dead (Matthew 9:18-19) just to name a few. Why do all these miracles matter? They matter because only God can control nature, forgive sins, and bring life back to the dead.

What does Jesus mean by “I am in the Father and the Father is in me”? This is the climax of the statements in which Jesus is telling us He is God. In John 1:1 it says, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In John 11:30, Jesus says, “The Father and I are one.” Now on His last night here on earth before His death, Jesus is restating that He is in fact God made flesh. He is also restating that He is the only way to the Father. Jesus said, “No one can come to the Father except through me.” [3] He is showing us if we want to see the Father, not just through signs, miracles, or a glimpse, but for all of eternity, we must follow Jesus because God the Father and God the Son are united for all eternity with the Holy Spirit.

How does our life change if Jesus is not God? If Jesus is not God, everything changes. This would mean that Jesus is just a good guy, a great teacher or even prophet. This would mean that He is not divine, not eternal. Any human accomplishment, no matter how great can be topped. If Jesus is only human then other humans in time will top His accomplishments. If Jesus is only human, then He cannot give divine life to us. A human can only share his temporal life with others and when he dies, other share in the memory. Jesus is divine and so He can share His eternal life with others and can place that eternal life in them, this is the divine life given at Baptism. His followers do not simply share in a memory of him, but through the Sacraments, especially the Blessed Sacrament, partake in a divine reality. If Jesus is not God, then we really do not have to listen to Him; we can choose our own way, our own truth and ultimately live our own life. What is the outcome? The temptation to deny Jesus is God, is to make our own self a god, it is the same as the first temptation in the Garden of Eden, “you will be like gods”. [4]

Why wouldn’t we make Michael Jordan the god of basketball? We do this because the lasting effect of his life on the game has an eternal effect. No matter how good Michael Jordan was, he will be topped, and some argue that he already has been surpassed by LeBron James or Kolbe Bryant or Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry. This list will continue. Jesus is not just a reminder of the past, who gives vision to the future. Also, basketball is ultimately a team sport. As great as a player is, he cannot win a championship alone. Jesus on the other hand changed the course of salvation single handedly. Jesus is eternal, can never be beat. Jesus is the fulfillment of the past. He is not “a vision” of the future, but rather is the vision, is our vision. He is the Light of the World. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” [5] In an ever-changing world, Christ does not change. The only constant thing in life is that God remains constant.

Are there people that just believe Jesus is human but not God? Yes! The belief that Jesus was only human, but not God reached its height with the heresy of Arianism. Arianism is “A fourth-century heresy that denied the divinity of Jesus Christ…The Son is only a creature, made out of nothing, like all other created beings…the logos or word of God is not eternal. There was a time when he did not exist.” [6] This is not just an attack against the divinity of Christ, but also on the Trinity. If Jesus is not divine, then the Spirit He sends is also not divine. If Jesus is not divine, but only human, then He is just a way, a truth, a life, not the only way, the absolute truth and the divine life. Is this heresy still around? Yes! We have seen it most recently in the movie “The Da Vinci Code”.

Can we do greater things than Jesus did? Yes and no. Jesus says at the end of the Gospel, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.” Jesus is clearly saying to us, those who truly believe in Him and in the One who sent Him, will be able to perform miracles. This is evident in Acts when Peter was able to cure a man just by his shadow, and struck another man dead because of his lies. [7] However, we should know the greatest thing Christ ever did was to lay down His life for us. While we too can lay down our life for Him by uniting ourselves to Jesus’ cross, we cannot win our salvation for ourselves; only Jesus Christ could and did do that for every one of us.

How is it possible for us, mere humans, to do greater things that Jesus, who is God? It is only possible because of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. We are doing great things “in Christ”. We have died with Him in baptism and we rise with Him. He is our head, we are His members, and we are one Body that does these works. He has given us His divine life and grace and the works we do in His name are only possible through the divine life and grace.

Why is it important that Jesus and the Father are united together? Jesus is our reconciler to God the Father because He is the final sacrifice made for all of us. By being one with the Father, Jesus can go to the Father and intercede for humanity. “All of humanity, in Christ, is mysteriously made at peace with the Father; the two have now been made one. Our Father, “who art in heaven", omnipotent and eternal God, is capable of embracing eternally all of mankind, every man, woman and child. In Christ all can now approach the Father with confidence to take their places with him in eternal blessedness.” [8]

How can we show the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to others? How can we see Jesus in the Church?